High-End Mac Mini Said to Feature Thinner Design With 'Plexiglass' Top, Magnetic Power Port

[Internet Enzyme]

I don’t get why everyone cares so much about an external power brick: it is utterly inconsequential. The Mac mini is totally deserving of a redesign: maybe in the Intel era, it was mini, but in the Apple silicon era it is antiquated. Also, if it uses the same AC adapter as the iMac, then both the consumer and Apple benefits from the fact that they share these parts.

 

[jarman92]

Great!

Why use an integrated power supply that uses a standard power cable…. When you can use an external power supply with a proprietary power cable?!

Is there even a “standard” power cable? Seems like every device I have has a totally different one with totally different amperage/voltage. And why would one need a “standard” cable? It’s going to sit on your desk and not move for years at a time.

 

[reallynotnick]

What's with all the hate for an external brick?

They are annoying clutter and you can't cheaply replace it if needed or buy a different length since it's non-standard.

It's not a deal breaker for me, but it's for sure a downgrade in my eyes.

 

[archer75]

I wish they'd stop going thinner. It's a desktop and it's plugged in. I'm not concerned with power savings or a thin enclosure. Make it bigger and pack more in.

 

[arvinsim]

I thought we were done doing sacrifices in the Temple of Thinness?

 

[cigz]

RIP to headphone jack i guess 🤐

 

[citysnaps]

These are solvable engineering and design issues. Are you saying Apple doesn't have the engineering or design chips to design a good integrated power supply? With GaN tech power supplies are getting smaller, less hot, and more reliable than ever. Is Apple not up the task of designing such a power supply? I doubt it. This seems like penny-pinching to me.

No. I'm saying excellent design engineering is all about managing a set of goals and requirements (a vector of sorts), that are often at odds with each other, where compromise is often required. With this story being merely a rumor, one can only speculate what those trades and resulting benefits/cons are.

 

[Fishrrman]

This looks to be very nice.

The magnetic power cord suggests that the power supply itself will be moved to a brick "on the floor", which should reduce heat inside the case (hence, lower height) -- excellent idea. These should run quite cool.

Keeping ALL the ports from the 2018 Mini is also a very good idea. This is what a DESKTOP computer is supposed to have -- ports, and plenty of them. Retaining USBa is a smart move as well. Remember 5 years ago, when folks around here were bubbling over with comments like with USBc, why have USBa ports any longer? How many still have more USBa devices around than USBc?

Keeping the same outward form factor could be a wise choice. I believe a good number of Minis are sold to be installed into server farms with racks sized to accept their cases. Even though a little thinner, the mX Minis will "slide right in" without problems.

This could become the most significant Mini design yet introduced.

Re the missing headphone jack:
Perhaps this was left off the artist's rendering.
I'm sure it will be there someplace...

 

[NMBob]

Pssstt... I have a picture of a real world plexiglass Mac mini.

Here's one running Snow Leopard on my desk right now. Nary a visible scratch, but the top on a couple other ones did yellow over the years.

 

[theluggage]

I don't know why people keep repeating this. Magnetic connector =/= MagSafe easy tear away cable from the mid 2000s.

True, the iMac reviews show it actually being quite hard to pull out. In which case, what's the point?

(Ans: #1 design priority for the iMac was clearly to make it unnecessarily thin so it didn't have enough depth to hold a PSU or a good old figure-8 connector).

But ooh, look, it's got a magnet, shiny, it must solve a problem we didn't know we had... (let's see if Apple have learned how to make captive cables that don't disintegrate after a year of being kicked around on the floor... but then strain relief sleeves are sooo ugly and don't have magnets in them...)

The current enclosure had plenty of space to incorporate a hot Intel processor, a power supply, an optical drive and a spinning rust HD, yet it's still small enough to hide behind a display on a vesa mount, or put in a high density rack. If the new chip is feeling a bit lost then, instead of making it smaller, why not stick more stuff in there... like a slot for an extra SSD?

(Oh, and getting an Ethernet cable onto my desk was a problem I solved sometime last century - and for every user who's ethernet port is next to their mains socket, there's another who's cable goes to a switch or router at desk level...)

 

[Feyl]

no internal heat from power brick...so even better for cooling

My M1 Mac mini is literally cold to touch 99,9% of the time I use it. I very much doubt that's the reason.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

I wonder if moving the power supply outside the main unit reduces the possibility of coil whine?

 

[BWhaler]

Now they just need to release an affordable monitor to go with it!

yes. Long overdue.

 

[JMacHack]

no internal heat from power brick...so even better for cooling

The M-Series is very efficient, I don’t think that’s a very big deal. And the Mini doesn’t have a power hungry display like the iMac.

anyway, chill people, it’s Prosser talking and an artist’s render. We know nothing of a high end Mac Mini yet.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

If it's got the same power brick as the iMac, why would it have an ethernet port *ON* the machine itself?

There's a very good reason for it not being on the iMac, and it's the same one that explains why the headphone jack is on the side: the machine is too thin (at 11.5mm) to support the RJ-45 socket's depth (about 13mm). Ethernet wouldn't be an issue on the Mac mini as there will be plenty of depth available to support the component.

For the iMac, it would be a rather unsightly thing to have coming out of the side of the machine, so putting it in the power brick is a pretty good place to put it.

 

[satchmo]

Is the current one too thick to go on a desk?

 

[citysnaps]

My M1 Mac mini is literally cold to touch 99,9% of the time I use it. I very much doubt that's the reason.

Ditto with my M1 MacBook Air. Until I run X-Plane flight simulator with external flight controls and extra display, which then makes it borderline uncomfortably warm/hot.

 

[Spock]

I would like to see the Mac mini actually be mini. Apple TV sized would be fun although that would probably require an external power brick. And back to that $499 original starting price from the G4.

 

[collin_]

Another Mac redesign with external power brick.

View attachment 1781276

I like it that way, honestly. Apple power bricks are very attractive and if the power supply ever fails you can easily replace it instead of needing to get the machine serviced.

EDIT: As others have pointed out, it’s also good for thermals as a significant source of heat is no longer in the machine.

 

[hagjohn]

It take space in the server cabinet. On my desk it adds wiring (probably the cable is fixed and way to long). Beside that I have a cable tray with outlets mounted at my desk. The power supply would have to fit into the tray and has the risk of overheating because of the bad ventilation. I hate any cables or power supplies on the floor.

I wonder if it can be powered from the thunderbolt ports?

 

[Apple_Robert]

What is the point of the plexiglass top?

 

[subi257]

Whoever created that render has never used a computer with anything plugged in, have they? Look how close the ports are.

I had not realized those were the USB ports....I thought that was a fan vent

 

[citysnaps]

There's a very good reason for it not being on the iMac, and it's the same one that explains why the headphone jack is on the side: the machine is too thin (at 11.5mm) to support the RJ-45 socket's depth (about 13mm). Ethernet wouldn't be an issue on the Mac mini as there will be plenty of depth available to support the component.

For the iMac, it would be a rather unsightly thing to have coming out of the side of the machine, so putting it in the power brick is a pretty good place to put it.

Totally agree. It's a well-designed computer. Aesthetically beautiful, as well. I think Apple is going to sell loads of them.

 

[DarrenSW]

This can be the Mac mini; and then they can lower the price of entry with a basic M1 with two TB/USB3 ports in a tiny enclosure as the Mac nano.

 

[DekuBleep]

Those ports look way too close together. Prosser needs a better mock up.